To set up a
cellphone tower on a building, telecom operators will have to obtain a no-objection
certificate (NOC) from its owner or person/s with rooftop rights.

Department
of Telecommunications (DoT) guidelines issued and effective Thursday, however,
do not require operators to obtain consent of 70 per cent of members of a
society, as proposed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in a draft
policy.

"Local
bodies may seek submission of copy of NOC from building owner/entities having
rooftop rights or rooftop tenants in case of roof-based tower/land owner in
case of ground-based tower. State governments may seek fresh NOC at the time of
renewal of site (tenancy) contract for mobile tower," the guidelines say.

DoT will
limit itself to fixing standards for exposure limits of radio frequency field
emissions from mobile base stations, monitoring compliance, all
radiation-related technical issues and issues of access service
licence/infrastructure provider registration.

A DoT
official said the state government or the local body can frame stricter
guidelines. In other words, BMC can specify the additional requirements
operators would need to meet.

Service
providers will now have to periodically establish/certify that all general
public areas around old and new towers are within safe exposure limits.
Violations could attract penalty, or even lead to shutdown. Telecom enforcement
resource and monitoring (TERM) cells will have to issue acknowledgment
receipts.

The
guidelines call for setting up state- and district-level telecom committees, as
demanded by citizens, to address grievances relating to installation of towers
and telecom infrastructure.

The
committees will consist of officers from TERM cells, state administration,
representatives of telecom service providers and eminent members of the public.